On April 5, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled[3] (judgment not available in English) that the execution of a European arrest warrant must be postponed if the conditions of detention in the member state that issued the warrant pose a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment. According to the press release[4], the case concerned warrants from Hungary and Romania respectively, which called for the return to the countries of two men who had been located in Germany. The local court in Germany deciding on the execution of the warrants expressed concern that the men might be subject to detention conditions that violate the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union[5], and called on the Court to determine “whether, in such circumstances, the execution [of the warrants] must be refused.” The Court found that “the absolute prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is part of the fundamental rights protected by EU law,” and therefore states have to evaluate all the evidence available to them to ascertain the risk before making a decision on the surrender of individuals. It further clarified that the existence of information on “the general detention conditions” in itself cannot be enough to refuse execution of the warrant; rather “it is necessary to demonstrate that the individual in question will be exposed to such a risk.” The Court concluded that if the authority deciding on the execution of the warrant does find that an individualized risk exists, “the execution of the warrant must be deferred until there has been obtained additional information on the basis of which that risk can be discounted. If the existence of that risk cannot be discounted within a reasonable period, that authority must decide whether the surrender procedure should be brought to an end.”